How Deep do you Plant Bulbs?

Bulbs can provide a colorful, transient appeal to any garden.

The following is a table of depths for planting various Spring, Summer and Autumn flowering plants which are propagated by bulbs, corms, tubers or rhizomes.

All figures express the depth where the soil makes contact with the bottom of the bulb, corm, tuber or rhizome when positioned upright in the planting hole.

Depending on the species, the depth of planting can cover quite a broad range due to the size of the individual bulbs being planting and the characteristics of the soil they are to be planted into.

As a general rule bulbs should be planted three times deeper than they are tall, although this rule won't apply perfectly to all species.

If planting into heavy clay soils bulbs should be planted closer to the surface (at the minimum of the recomended depth provided), bulbs planted too deeply in heavy clay may have difficulty emerging and may even extend all their energy and die before the leaves are able to penetrate the surface.

Bulbs planted into very sandy soils should be planted at the maximum recommended depth, as sandy soils are unable to hold onto moisture for very long and are more prone to drying out near the surface.

Bulbs planted into a good quality, loamy soil should be planted at about the midpoint between the maximum and minimum planting depths with smaller bulbs being positioned higher than larger bulbs.

Bulbs planted deeper will be more protected from the extremes in temperature experienced nearer the surface, as the soil above them provides insulation against both excessively hot and cold weather.